Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

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Hello everyone. I had a great find today. And actually know the reason i managed to put on the unwanted weight that i have been carrying around for roughly 8yrs. As i have mentioned before, i am 5ft10inches and 215pounds/96kgs.

Today i had an omelette for breakfast, consisting of 5 eggs, about 7 sliced mushrooms, 3 diced onions and also 6 diced slices of bacon. Needless to say i was not hungry for the entire day.

All of a sudden about late in the afternoon i noticed an incredible urge to eat chocolate. (it always disguises itself as hunger) I was craving sugar terribly. I gave in, more to guage my reaction to the sudden craving. I was curious to see if it would subside. So i had a few pieces of chocolate and it stopped within about 5mins. The craving had totally vanished.

I jumped on the internet and found that this is quite common. It is called carb craving and also another name which i cant quite remember.

Basically when ever this craving woud hit me i would just binge. And eat and eat and eat. Obviously it was my blood sugar crashing, and the excess carbs i was having would spike my blood sugar and the vicious cycle began. But there is a saviour i read in this interesting article. It is called chromium. I cant wait to try it out. The studies have been astounding. Man im so excited. Im like a kid in a candy store Pardon the pun.

Any views on this would be greatly appreciated.

flag	asked Aug 6 2011 at 11:56 Nick

BryanH · Answer 1 · 2011-08-06 12:20:16Z UTC

Could it be that your body is craving the magnesium and chromium in the cacao, rather than the sugar high that makes up most of the chocolate that is on the market today? Take a look at: http://www.longevitynow.co.uk/david-wolfe-named-chocolate-as-an-excellent-source-of-magnesium-and-chromium and http://thediabetesclub.com/foods-for-diabetes-should-regularly-include-foods-high-in-chromium/

In the other hand, there are studies that seem to link the high levels of copper in cacao with low levels of chromium (um, what?): http://www.acu-cell.com/choc.html

And then there are studies that link depression with low levels of chromium, omega-3 and zinc: http://www.healthyfellow.com/240/chromium-depression-and-food-cravings/

As an experiment, try eating some very dark chocolate (85% and above) or make a pure cacao drink to see what your response is. Keen to hear the results :)

Ambimorph · Answer 2 · 2011-08-06 18:42:42Z UTC

I've read that glutamine helps with sugar craving, too, but I haven't tried either that or chromium.

I use fat to kill sugar cravings, and find it very effective.

There's even been speculation that our taste for sweet is actually a proxy for fat, since fat is tasteless: Why did we evolve a taste for sweetness?

jen · Answer 3 · 2011-08-06 12:14:54Z UTC

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chromium picolinate, it helps balance out blood suugar levels.

answered Aug 6 2011 at 12:14

jen
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Thanx jen. It was actually mentioned in the study. Thanx once again :-) – Nick Aug 6 2011 at 12:23

Josh M · Answer 4 · 2011-08-06 18:54:07Z UTC

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I agree that the magnesium, chromium & copper levels my all be out and the cravings are a sign - I supplement with all 3 but never daily, maybe staggered over 3 days, I like 90% ark chocolate but I never crave it.

answered Aug 6 2011 at 18:54

Josh M
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Namby Pamby · Answer 5 · 2011-08-07 04:41:16Z UTC

Chromium was documented to lower blood sugar but at very high doses that could hurt your kidneys. Most people take chromium at 200-300mg. At that dose, it doesn't do much to your blood sugar. Google bloood sugar, chromium. It was a study done in Asia and was with a high dose of chromium

I would pass on chromium, if your intent is to control BG or carb cravings.

You might wanna heed Nora Gedgaudas and take up her suggestion: L-glutamine (powder - a teaspoon several times a day) and 4,000 mg of gymnema sylvestre 3 times a day.

Or just eat bone broth soup or a spoonful of bone broth and it will just kill your carb cravings.

chromium and the sweet tooth

5 Answers